For any team in the NFL, competing in the division is the first step to competing for a playoff spot and pushing yourself to the front of the line.

At the halfway mark of the season the Broncos sit in last place in the AFC West, which as a whole is not considered one of the more difficult places to conduct business these days.

The Broncos have surrendered the most points in the division — 223, and that’s 49 more points than the next-highest total. They’ve scored the fewest points among the teams in the division — 154, or nine fewer points than Kansas City.

That differential — 69 fewer points scored than they’ve surrendered — puts the Broncos in the kind of company they never expected to be in.

In fact, only Buffalo (0-7), has a bigger differential, at 80 points, than the Broncos do.

The Bills, Jaguars and Broncos have surrendered more than 200 points so far this season, and the Broncos are one of only eight teams in the league that currently have a losing record at home this season.

The Broncos have lost their last four division games at home, dating to last season, by 45, 20, 1 and 29 points. Curious as to why the local fan base is boiling at the moment? There are your numbers of choice.

Which is why the Broncos’ first game after the bye is so noteworthy, because it’s the Chiefs who play Nov. 14 at Invesco Field at Mile High.

The Chiefs, who have spent some time wandering around the missing-the-playoff wilderness in recent years, also happen to be the team currently residing in first place in the AFC West, at 5-2.

They are the NFL’s top running team and have allowed 101 fewer points than the Broncos at this point.

And if the Broncos would like at least a brief respite from the downpour of negativity around them, they have to come up with something against the Chiefs. Because folks here have spent a lot of Sundays watching the Broncos face the Chiefs, and they’re used to the Broncos beating the Chiefs after they’ve paid to park near the stadium.

The Broncos are 31-19 in home games against the Chiefs, and the Chiefs, who steamrolled the Broncos at Invesco in the 2009 season finale when there was still an outside shot at a postseason spot on the line, haven’t won in Denver in back-to-back seasons since 1999 and 2000.

The Chiefs are a young team, more athletic than the one that played in Denver last year, and have played with plenty of grit thus far. They have slugged it out for an ugly win or two along the way.

And if the Broncos play coming out of their bye week the same way they did heading in, there’s always a chance a highly frustrated fan base becomes something else — one that doesn’t care.

For those who wonder what rock bottom would look like this season, picture all of those seats with nobody in them to close out the home schedule.

WASHINGTON — Thirty games into the 82-game NHL season, and nearly six weeks after the Matt Duchene trade, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic discussed the state of his team before Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at the Washington Capitals.